Mission Statement
Rice MusicMDs is an outreach organization of students who volunteer at hospitals, nursing homes, hospices, and assisted living facilities to promote patient healing through musical performances.
“I met a white-haired woman holding her husband’s hand. She is confined to a hospital bed, and he sits at her side, only releasing her hand to help her adjust the plastic tube in her mouth. He sways her hand gently to our ensemble’s music, and her pained wheezing transitions into more peaceful shallow breaths. I felt humbled and joyful as I felt the hospital room’s atmosphere shift so that it felt a little more like home – somewhere more peaceful despite trying circumstances.”
Moments like the one above exemplify our belief in the therapeutic effects that music can have on patients. There are countless moments like the one above – a woman who hears us playing down the hall and comes out to ask us to play for her bedridden husband, a musical family who wants to meet fellow musicians. Music helps make unfamiliar hospital settings feel more comfortable, stress-free, and pleasant. Since our founding in 2014, we have regularly provided live music performances to patients and families at various healthcare facilities across Houston, offering individualized performances in patient rooms and larger-scale concerts in public spaces to entertain patients and healthcare staff. These performances help break the monotony of the patients’ prolonged stay and routine duties of the healthcare workers.
Another key purpose of MusicMDs is to build community within Rice by bringing together student musicians who are passionate about performing and using their talents to serve the community. While MusicMDs volunteers come from a wide range of musical backgrounds, genres, and experiences, they are united by a shared desire to hone their musical talents and use these talents to uplift the spirits of hospital patients and nursing home residents who often struggle with fear, loneliness, uncertainty, and isolation. Outside of our hospital performances, MusicMDs hosts many musically themed social events: Club karaoke, game nights featuring musical puzzles, and movie nights. We also host “jam sessions” where students interested in music can come together to create new connections, share their personal experiences, discover new music, and collaborate with others to rehearse performances. These internal club activities provide a unique opportunity for Rice musicians to take a more relaxed approach to music and bond with friends away from the stresses of college life.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we largely transitioned our volunteer work to a virtual modality. Through our partnership with Symphonies for Seniors, we connected with 88 different nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and hospice care facilities. Our members recorded themselves playing music in videos that were distributed to these facilities, with each video beginning with messages of warm wishes and introduction of the performers. At the height of the pandemic, Rice MusicMDs members even assisted with Houston Methodist’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution, helping with distribution event registration and check-in, directing patients to vaccine booths, performing crowd control, and monitoring patients in the post-vaccination room. By June 21, 2021, we had helped Methodist administer over 803,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses. MusicMDs also pitched a novel volunteer opportunity for helping with vaccine distribution, playing music in the hospital hallways and in post-vaccination rooms.
As restrictions loosen this year, we are excited to continue serving our local Houston community with a combination of live and virtual performances, giving Rice MusicMDs members ample opportunities to share their musical talent with patients.